I just got my 5 practice wizards order and am pretty sure that my putter/approach will not change again. I love them, I have 5 to practice with, they are just a fantastic mold, etc. etc. etc. If you want a putter/approach disc, get a wizard, and if you want to be good with them, get the GDS special and get five of them for $35.

GDS threw in an Element in with the putters! I love it, great disk and quickly becoming one of my favorites. If you have not thrown and Element, get one of those too.

All that made me really interested in Gateway discs. Then I realized that I had one, the illusion, that I never throw, so I tried it again.

I can throw most of the high speed drivers about 340' or so, only rarely way further when I hit it right. I have only been playing for about 4 months. But I can't seem to do much of anything with the Illusion. It seems way way overstable and just crashes and burns. Am I just to slow with this disc, or is there something specific to this disc that I need to be trying to do?

I personally have not tried any gateway stuff, so my opinion may not really matter to you. However, I do keep up with reading a lot of threads on the PDGA discussion board. A lot of people seem to have this problem with gateway drivers, and one of the suggestions that seem to pop up ALL the time is to beat the tar out of it.
A few methods that gateway suggests to do this are the flex method (bending it back and forth in your hands....mostly flexing the disc rim down), and yet another way is to throw thumbers high enough to beat it up when it lands. Some people suggest concrete, but I would stick to grass to reduce scuffs and scratches. I'm not sure if this helps, but it is just my $.02. Good luck.

Practice, practice, practice. Especially with players that are better than you. It's one of the only ways to learn new things.

I find the Illusion to be too overstable for what it's intended use is as well, and I throw mostly Gateway and my distance is similar (350'-380').

Something that you do have to remember about the Illusion, Spirit and Speed Demon is that they need to be thrown very nose down, very fast and very low. They aren't forgiving at all when it comes to nose angle. You can also try putting a bit of anhyzer on it as well, but I find the Illusion doesn't come out of that as predictably as the Spirit.

What I'd do is just use it as a headwind driver (it will probably be huge for you for that) and long hyzer shots for now. Eventually it will get beat in more and may become useful for straight shots. Personally, I use an Innova Viking for my long, straight shots because Gateway doesn't have a disc that's similar enough for me to try.

If you're looking for other Gateway discs to try, here are my favorites:

most of the gateway drivers need to be broken in, and the high speed ones need to be thrown VERY nose down as garu said. the standard production illusions concaved a little bit and require MORE nose down to compensate for the raised wing.

imo, with 4 months experience i would put away any disc faster than a valk and work with older-school plastic until you have a more thorough background and then stepping up.

For the Illusion's intended goal you do need a little bit more power and it will take time getting used to throwing it normally.
It probably took me 2-3 months before I really figured out how to throw the Spirit/Illusion well (low, nose down), so you should decide whether you want to invest the time now or just wait.

I've recently become interested in Gateway stuff; the only thing stopping me from getting more of it is that you have to get it directly from them.

When I first got my demon, I thought it would be worthless...I could throw bottle cap further, but the first time I hit a tree i noticed something: it straightened up drastically and gained huge D. So I started purposely hitting trees. Now, I can throw it off the tee.

Well, the illusion is a big overstable disc that requires about 400' of arm to make it work. I found that to throw mine I had to toss it like a wraith and try to turn it over hard. The disc will hang right for a bit and then cruise long and fade at the end. In fact it is very similar in distance and flight to a wraith. It just doesn't sound like you quite have the power needed for this disc.

Gateway really cators to the big armed player that can throw at least 400ft. I would say a little over a year ago when I was introduced to some of their plastic I really could not throw it well. But recently I was able to get my hands on their E-hybrid, and some other discs and find that they really compare well with what I already throw (teebird, wraith)

The first gateway disc I ever tossed was a 166g proto illusion and that was i suppose 2004 sometime. I couldnt do anything with that and was really turned off by their discs.

For those that dont have much distance I would recommend sticking with the wizards, elements, and sabres if you want to get into gateway. Their other discs just require power throwers.

For those that dont have much distance I would recommend sticking with the wizards, elements, and sabres if you want to get into gateway

I sell Gateway now, locally and online, and these are the discs I actually throw - limited to the wizards, elements, element-Xs, Sabres and I experimenting with a Hybrid. I still throw Trackers, RoadRunners, Stingrays.

I have pulled the Avengers, Buzz, Buzz GT and Banger GT from the bag.

I carry around a QJLS I am always tempted to grab but I just don't use it anymore, but I liked them for so long...

i mentioned this in another post regarding the illusion... i have an orange one in the S plastic, 169g, and it is not hard to flip at all (supposedly some of the newer orange ones are domier, mine must be one). it's a fantastic big D disc... i don't have the biggest arm in world but this goes 350' for me when i throw it properly. i release it with hyzer about 5' off the ground, it rises as it flips getting 12-15' in the air, then it holds on a very long time before the fade portion. it must be very nose down to maximize it's flight.
in any case i'm going back to DX valkryies for distance since they're easier to throw... but the S illusions apparently aren't all "super overstable"